As part of the efforts to help increase the resilience and profitability of African farming in the face of climate change, African Seed Trade Association (AFSTA) has had its 23rd African Seed Trade Association annual Congress to discuss regional and international seed issues at Dakar, Senegal.
Africa has had extraordinary development in agricultural productivity and food security over the past few decades. These improvements have been essential in promoting economic growth.
Agriculture is a vital sector for many West African countries, contributing significantly to economies.
Cashew cultivation in Ghana started in the 1960s with sporadic plantings in the Central and Greater Accra Regions and later spread to the Bono, Northern, Upper East and Upper West Regions.
Cashew is the leading non-traditional export revenue earner in the country. Undoubtedly, the cashew value chain brings a wide range of opportunities from production, through processing to the export of raw nuts.
Cashew grows in eleven out of the sixteen regions of Ghana, although it is mostly found in the Bono and the Northern Regions. About 350,000 farmers are directly engaged in cashew cultivation, generating a chain of ancillary employment for about 450,000 people working in the cashew value chain
The low rates of cashew nut processing in Ghana are driven by a number of factors. These include limited infrastructure for the local processors.
Ghana is among Africa’s major producers of cashew nuts. Ghana currently produces about 85,000 metric tonnes of raw cashew nuts each year, which accounts for about one percent of the world’s total production.
Global cashew demand
The fast-increasing production of cashew in the country has been fuelled by the rapid global demand and consumption of cashew nuts, especially in developed economies such as the USA, China and the EU. The driving factor for the rising consumption of cashew nuts is its health and nutritional benefits.
This has created the opportunity for countries producing cashew across the globe to step out of their game to meet the ever-increasing demand. It is estimated that the market for raw cashew nuts will continue to grow at an annual rate of 4.27% from 2020 to 2025 with a projected market value of about US$7 billion.
According to the African Cashew Alliance (ACA), global production of cashew is around 3.8 million tonnes of which Africa accounts for 60%.
Cote d’Ivoire is the leading producer with estimated annual production raised from 460,000 tonnes in 2013 to 1.1 million tonnes in 2021. The shelled cashew kernel production in the same period grew from 30,000 tonnes to 110,000 tonnes.
Per the potential growth of the crop, the government as well as all other interested bodies in the country have been working assiduously to soar Ghana’s cashew production so as to maximise its benefits. Cashew vision?
Local processors challenges
Ghana has a few cashew processing plants, with a total annual capacity of 65,000 metric tonnes of raw cashews.
There are a number of challenges that hinder the local processing of cashew nuts in Ghana. Key amongst these is a lack of capital to maintain operations, alongside the inability of local processors to access raw cashew nuts from farmers.
Local processors also face intense competition from foreign processors most notably from Asia who drive up cashew nut prices.
While Asian processors and exporters are able to afford high farmgate prices due to their access to preferential interest rates in their home countries, local processors are unable to compete, leaving them simply unable to afford to purchase raw cashew nuts.
Cashew farmers also demonstrate a preference for selling their nuts to Asian processors and exporters who pay them immediately in cash.
These conditions leave Ghana off the field, thereby missing out on significant opportunities for jobs and revenue generation.
Programmes and interventions
The interest in cashew cultivation was rekindled with the introduction of the Economic Recovery Programme (ERP) in 1983 when cashew was identified as one of the major non-traditional crops to be developed as part of the Government’s efforts to diversify the country’s export base.
Another is the implementation of ‘Planting for Export and Rural Development’ (PERD). The decentralised programme is aimed at increasing and diversifying Ghana’s tree crop production and exports away from the over-reliance on cocoa.
Targeted crops under PERD include cashew, coconut, rubber, oil palm, coffee and shea. This has seen many District Assemblies, especially those located within the transitional and Savanna zones distributing free cashew seeds and seedlings to farmers for planting. It is expected to accelerate cashew production in the next few years to come.
The Tree Crops Development Authority (TCDA), under the Ministry of Food and Agriculture also launched a Five-Year Strategic and Implementation Plan geared towards the development of a competitive and sustainable tree crops industry in Ghana. The Authority has the mandate to regulate and create a conducive environment for the development of tree and industrial crops such as cashew.
Has Ghana learnt from other countries?
Governments in key cashew-producing countries across Africa are increasingly rolling out strategies to increase both the production and processing of raw cashew nuts.
For example, in Cote d’Ivoire, an export tax of FCFA 30 per kg of raw cashew nuts has recently been introduced. Revenue from this tax is used to subsidise and support local processors. This has incentivised local processing, making Côte d’Ivoire, the largest cashew processor in Africa, with a capacity of 70,000 metric tonnes annually.
Similarly, Mozambique and Tanzania have adopted a range of measures to protect and incentivise local cashew processors. These include granting local processors preferential access to raw cashew nuts. It also includes imposing export duties on raw cashew nuts.
Meanwhile, since 2009 Kenya has introduced a ban on the export of raw cashew nuts, a strategy which has increased local processing from 30% in 2009 to 80% in 2012.
The Cambodian government has identified cashew as an agro-industrial crop and also one of the 12 priority crops and has been taking various steps to raise its output and competitiveness through economic diversification. The government has enacted the National Policy on Cashew Nuts for 2022-27 which aims to increase production and value-added, giving hope to cashew farmers.
Questions
Does the Tree Crops Development Authority have adequate funds to achieve set targets?
How is the 5-year Strategy and Implementation Plan doing?
Where is the $100 million to achieve the 5-year Strategy and Implementation Plan?
The $5 million annual pledge by MoFA, where is it?
Are donor partners overwrought?
Are we over-relying on donors?
Will the 5-year Strategy continue if power changes hands?
One of my beloved writers, Chinua Achebe, the Nigerian novelist seen by millions as the father of African literature, once said “The trouble with Africa is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing basically wrong with the African land or climate or water or air or anything else. The African problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership”.
What he meant was that given the current and expected future challenges facing Ghana’s domestic food security, there is an urgent need to critically assess agricultural development policies and donor aid initiatives. There is also an urgent need to examine export led priorities, including in particular, cashew nut sectoral planning.
He believes that to date, national agricultural planning and policy appears to prioritise production of export commodities above local food production, there is a vital need for programmes that increase support for local food crop farmers and domestic food provisioning.
There is also an as-yet-unmet opportunity for Ghana to benefit from investments that enable in-country processing and value-adding as part of an expansion of the cashew sector. Such policy and planning initiatives may ensure Ghana is able to benefit socially and economically from the growing global demand for cashew nuts.
The writer is an Agriculturist, prize-winning journalist, Project Management Professional and Founder, of Motivating the Farmer Africa.
Denmark’s Ambassador to Ghana, Tom Ngrring, has disclosed that about 50% of crops harvested in Ghana go to waste annually.
AGRA has announced there will be an $85,000 prize for the 2023 winners of the VALUE4HER Women Agripreneurs of the Year Award (WAYA).
WAYA seeks to recognise African female agripreneurs demonstrating remarkable Innovation and business excellence in agricultural value chains.
The winning agripreneurs will be unveiled during the 2023 AGRF Summit, later this year.
Speaking at the event launch, AGRA’s Vice President for Strategic Partnerships & Chief of Party, Vanessa Adams said, “Women’s participation and recognition in this agriculture sector has been historically overlooked.
“That’s why we believe it’s essential to shine a spotlight on women who are making a significant contribution to the agricultural industry through their innovation, leadership, and entrepreneurship.”
“By recognising the undeniable contribution of women to African food systems, we hope to inspire and encourage more women to pursue careers in the agricultural sector,” she added.
Last year, Oluyemisi Iranloye, the Managing Director of Psaltry International from Nigeria, scooped the Overall Grand Prize for her cassava processing initiative.
Fatou Manneh, the Founder of Jelmah Herbella, from The Gambia, won in the Young Female Agripreneur category.
A statement issued by Jean Kiarie, head of communications, AGRA said to be eligible for WAYA, businesses must be operating in an agriculture or agribusiness value chain, be a legal entity registered in a country that is a member state of the African Union, and at least 51% owned and managed by one or more women who are citizens of one of the 55 African countries.
Founded in 2006, AGRA, is an African-led African-based organisation that seeks to catalyse Agriculture Transformation in Africa.
AGRA is focused on putting smallholder farmers at the centre of the continent’s growing economy by transforming agriculture from a solitary struggle to survive into farming as a business that thrives.
As the sector that employs the majority of Africa’s people, nearly all of them small-scale farmers, AGRA recognizes that developing smallholder agriculture into a productive, efficient, and sustainable system is essential to ensuring food security, lifting millions out of poverty, and driving equitable growth across the continent.
Government has pledged to invest some US$541million to improve the poultry industry, in line with one of the key resolutions of the recently-held Dakar II Summit in Senegal.
The decision seeks to revamp the industry and position it to curb recent imports, which are in excess of over US$600million per annum.
Chief Director at the Ministry of Food and Agriculture, Robert Ankobia – who revealed this to B&FT – said the move is to achieve self-sufficiency in poultry meat products by expanding production, increasing competitiveness and value addition.
The investment will accordingly increase domestic production from the current 50,000 tonnes a year to an envisaged 450,000 tonnes per annum.
“The venture is also expected to increase the domestic poultry sector’s value from the existing US$62million to US$562million,” Mr. Ankobia said.
According to MoFA, about US$20million will be expended on technical assistance programmes in animal husbandry and health; about US$69million on feed mills expansion and upgrading to reduce poultry feed costs; US$438million to enhance access to finance and cost-sharing support for private investment in hatcheries and production expansion; and US$14.8million on programmes to promote expansion of SME processing in slaughtering and packaging, among others.
“The above plan to invest in local poultry is part of pathways and one of the country’s key compacts during the Dakar II Summit to attain self-sufficiency and agrifood transformation for the next five years,” Mr. Ankobia said.
Important features of the compact include prioritisation of key sub-sectors with the highest impact on food security, with key considerations for other commodities such as rice and soybean.
Overall, the compact focuses on production expansion and loss-reduction in the country’s food value chain.
The Ghana National Poultry Farmers Association (GNPFA) has confirmed that over US$600million worth of chicken is dumped onto the domestic market annually.
The association said the phenomenon has compounded woes of the country’s poultry industry – which is on the verge of collapse due to lack of regulation to check the dumping of chicken.
The Association’s president, Victor Oppong, had previously mentioned that the country receives nearly 600,000 metric tonnes of frozen chicken valued at US$600million every year.
As part of its efforts to help address climate change and problems of biodiversity in Ghana, Strategic Youth Network for Development a youth-oriented organisation has organized a day training to explain the “Banks and Biodiversity No Go Policy” as the world grapples with the climate crisis.
The Minerals Income and Investment Fund (MIIF) has revealed plans to support the development of the salt industry in Ghana with the Ada Songhor Lagoon as utmost priority.
This followed a working tour by the Board and Management of MIIF and officials of the Ghana Stock Exchange. The Ada Salt pans on the Songhor Lagoon have the potential to be the largest salt producing area in sub-Saharan Africa.
The CEO of MIIF revealed to reporters that, “MIIF is far advanced with plans to invest in the Ada Songhor salt project towards developing it to be the largest in sub-Saharan Africa. Ultimately this investment seeks to ensure that Ghana benefits from the many uses of salt, especially as a core input to support the industrialization agenda of the Government of Ghana”.
The Ada Songhor pans which sit on some 41,000 acres straddling at least thirty-three (33) Ada Communities is larger in acreage than Walvis Bay of Namibia which is about 16,700 acres and is the largest in sub-saharan Africa.
According to officials of Electrochem Ghana Limited which is the Ghanaian company developing the salt pans, the Songhor has the potential to produce more than 5 million MT at capacity with an estimated 650,000 metric tons (mt) of industrial salt in 2023 and circa 1.5 million MT over the next five years with a 99.99% purity.
MIIF’s Salt outlook and Investment.
MIIF has declared salt as a priority mineral in Ghana in line with its investment strategy of generating downstream to upstream value from every single mineral.
According to Professor Douglas Boateng, the Board Chairman of MIIF, “the Fund is targeting investments across the producing areas in the Greater Accra and Central regions of Ghana”.
The CEO of MIIF, Mr. Koranteng further stressed that “Salt is an infinite resource with over 14,000 uses. At full potential and with such expansive usage, salt in Ghana has the potential to earn circa $500 Million a year in foreign exchange with Nigeria and the sub-region as priority markets.
Salt as a raw material covers the pharmaceuticals, food processing, oil and gas, food preservation, production of caustic soda, the textiles industry, mining, road maintenance, hospitals and hospitality sectors which all require high grade salt to support the manufacturing of inputs or processing.
This is the reason why MIIF is excited about this opportunity for Ghana and is currently working on a broad based investment which would include a listing of the project on the Ghana Stock Exchange”.
The scale of the Ada Songhor salt project also presents opportunities for two export jetties to facilitate export and other lake transport opportunities, create massive employment in the producing areas and substantially revitalize the local economies.
MIIF Investment and the intended Listing of Electrochem on the Ghana Stock Exchange
In accordance with MIIF’s investment strategy to ensure that all major investments are listed on the Ghana Stock Exchange, the Chief Executive Officer of MIIF, Edward Nana Yaw Koranteng confirmed that Electrochem has agreed to list on the Ghana Stock Exchange as a condition for MIIF’s investment.
Mr. Koranteng stated that, “Investing in salt is part of our mineral diversification strategy in line with President Nana Akufo-Addo’s charge to MIIF, to ensure that we create Ghanaian business champions while at the same time creating opportunities along the value chain and on the capital markets for Ghanaians to directly have the chance to invest in such companies”.
The Managing Director of the Ghana Stock Exchange Ms. Abena Amoah who is also a member of the Investment Advisory Committee (IAC) of MIIF said; “What I have come to see here, really warms my heart. A great company is underpinned by the quality of the asset. We can become Africa’s number one salt producer, the sea never dries, the technology exists to mine the salt, the market for salt is not in doubt and with some ringfencing and great risk management, the investment in Electrochem and its listing on the Ghana Stock Exchange will be a win-win for all Ghanaians.”
About Ada Songhor
Constructed in the 1970s, the Ada Songhor Salt Project by acreage is the largest in sub-saharan Africa. It has run into several challenges over the years including lack of investment and was vested in the Government in 1992.
Following a five-year investment endeavour which required garnering and courting community support, Electrochem Ghana Ltd finally obtained a long term lease in 2021 to manage the salt pans and to quickly put a plan of development in place.
The plan has seen a total investment of $80 Million so far which has gone into rehabilitating the pans which had become decrepit and overly silted and the restoration of the Songhor Lagoon which had dried up for eight years.“All the work done from scratch has been with our technical partners, Serra Process of Spain.
Their advice and expertise gleaned from years of experience as a major global player in Salt is responsible for the successes chalked on this project” says Dzigbordi Kwaku-Dosoo, the Business Consultant on the project for Electrochem. “We are excited about the Ada Songhor project because it has restored the balance between the business and ecology of the area.
As a Ramsar site (wetland reserved for international environmental purposes), the birds have started coming from all over the world and on the economic front, more than 1500 young people have been employed on the mine, through a micro-credit facility developed by Electrochem, the women in the various communities have interest free loans for their businesses and fishing is back in full force on the lake,” Dzigbordi Kwaku-Dosoo said.
The current status of the Ada Songhor Salt Project
Electrochem has outlined four major steps for the development of the Salt pans in Ada. The First is the restoration of the lake and the pans which have been completed.
The expansion of infrastructure and importation of evaporators are ongoing with the company currently at circa 12% production.
The construction of an industrial bay to support the logistics management and export which has been completed. This is now the largest in Africa.
The firm plans to also build a jetty to facilitate sea exports and has already obtained the permits for the project. Further to the above, Electrochem plans to construct a refinery to support the production of domestic consumption of salt or retail use.
The Chairman of Electrochem, Daniel Mckorley said “We have invested our toil into this project but we recognize that we still have someway to go. We are going to be Africa’s number one producer of Salt both for industrial and domestic use. Our plan is to make the activities of Songhor Salt benefit the people of Ada and the people of Ghana. My philosophy is simple. If we cannot use the minerals God has given us to make our people wealthy, then we would have failed God completely”.
About MIIF
The Minerals Income Investment Fund (MIIF) is Ghana’s minerals sovereign fund. MIIF was established pursuant to the Minerals Income Investment Fund Act, 2018 (Act 978) as amended to receive royalties’ payments from mineral production activities in Ghana and to manage Government of Ghana’s equity interest in mining companies
On February 25, 2023, Guardian reported that certain commodities key including which is included tomatoes are hard to come by in UK supermarkets due to poor weather reducing the harvest in Europe and North Africa.
Ghanaian agronomists report farmers in the West African nation have switched to growing crops that do not require imported fertilizers after prices skyrocketed resulting from the war in Ukraine.
Agronomists in the West African nation reported that they recorded a 60 percent decline in fertilizer imports and a surge in prices resulting from the war in Ukraine and western-led sanctions on Russian companies.
Felix Kamassah, a Ghanaian vegetable farmer said the increased costs have pushed him and his peers into producing crops that require less inputs.
“We have to look at other alternatives to make sure that we are in business because (as) commercial farmers, when we want to rely on fertilizer importation, for now you can’t make any good profit out of it because it’s a big challenge,” said Kamassah.
Nana-Aisha Mohammed, the manager for the African Fertilizer and Agribusiness Partnership in Ghana, said global prices for inputs have stabilized but it will take approximately six months before retails prices follow suit.
“The dynamics of fertilizer crisis in Ghana have slightly changed. Globally, the prices are stabilizing. However, it will take about six months for retail prices to catch up,” said Mohammed.
“This is largely due to logistics and supply chain issues… we also as a country are facing some economic challenges, which means that our currency is not very stable and it’s performing very poorly against the trading currency which is the dollar,” he added.
Fiifi Boafo, the spokesperson for Ghana’s Cocoa Board said farmers can use chicken manure as an alternative. “In terms of quality it is even better for us to rely on the poultry manure than the inorganic fertilizer that we import because that is natural,” said Boafo.
“It has shown that it rather builds a soil structure better than the inorganic fertilizers we import. The only challenge, however, is that coming by it is a bit more difficult compared to accessing the inorganic from the market,” he added.
